The energy of content: harnessing its power using strategyKate Thomas

Content, Seriously: Real strategies for real content

21 January 2016

Content is the currency of digital

 

Literally – sites and apps make lots of money

 

Figuratively – without content, digital is a sad, grey place

More than currency, content is digital’s who, what, why and when

 

No one would disagree with this. Everyone knows content is important

But why is it so hard?

Taking this approach creates order, harmony, satisfaction, a positive atmosphere where people can prosper

Get it wrong, and progress and possibility is hamstrung. The world is chaotic, inefficient, frustrating and sad

As content strategists, if we recognize content as energy,

it gives us a framework we can use to guide clients

out of their digital confusion

Energy defined:

 

“Energy can be transformed into another sort of energy.

But it cannot be created AND it cannot be destroyed.

Energy has always existed in one form or another.”

Stored energy is called potential energy

Moving energy is called kinetic energy

So think about content in this way:

• Evergreen content is stored energy, energy that sits there fulfilling a quiet role of a potential <something>

• Or the more eye-catching, moving energy of well written headlines, pull quotes, compelling images, news items… that creates kinetic energy

Energy buzzes around content all the time.

• It can overwhelm people and organisations

• Cognitive frameworks (plus systems and processes) aren’t used to thinking beyond the present and immediate future

• The (almost) palpable frustrations where people can’t see a way out of their fog of confusion

But it’s also the positive energy that fizzes when a project finally gets its legs and things are coming together

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Planning

• analysis

• requirements gathering

• editorial calendars

Systems

• governance

• content models

• content plans

• translation frameworks

Resources

• people

• content

• budgets

Technology

• paper

• spreadsheets

• software

• hardware

Content: the energy that powers digital

Why content strategy, and content strategists?

Lots of people do content these days:

• (content) marketing

• SEO

• copywriters

• project managers

• account managers

• designers

To answer that, let’s step back in time.

Content wasn’t always this energetic or complex

Prior to 2007 and the iPhone, digital existed – for most people – on a desktop or big laptop

• No apps

• No portability (as we know it now)

• No mobile (at scale)

There were big screens, limited interaction, no (well, not much) transactional content

WebArchive.org: www.johnlewis.com, 18 Jan 2006

WebArchive.org: www.direct.gov.uk/Homepage/fs/en 18 Jan 2006

In 2006…

• Publishing to a website = book/magazine publishing – one thing was published at one time

• No always-on publishing – people weren’t connected 24/7 (remember, there’s no real mobile/portability)

• We were still the experts (editors in chief, web editor, editor…)

• We understood publishing, how people read, how the message needed to be structured for maximum effect

The digital energy genie is out of the bottle

Content strategy = business strategy

Our collective content strategy heads are above the parapet

And we need more than our good word to justify our actions

So why content strategy and not:

• (content) marketing

• SEO

• copywriters

• project managers

• account managers

• designers

Because strategy.Because:• planning• systems• resources• technology

Content strategyThe fulcrum. Informs all work that follows.

Create a gap analysis, post-team brainstorm to identify opportunities to leapfrog competitors, top-performing content (via site data) and requirements.

Then, we look at the competitive landscape to understand benchmarks and how we can set them.

We try to understand organizational pain points and readiness and users’ online behaviour, needs, frustrations etc.

What informs a holistic content strategy?

1

2

Begin development phase

Stakeholder interviews User research

Competitive audit

Content audit

Next, we evaluate current content for quality or begin to gather the raw material for scripts, articles, video, and/or copy creation.

3

4

Content strategyDevelop a content strategy that makes recommendations around formats, topics, sourcing, distribution, delivery mechanisms, tagging, etc.

Gap analysis

5

Video strategies/ development

Taxonomies/ SEO

Topic briefs

Content development plans/matrices

CMS documentation/workflows

Content models for CMS

How do we turn strategy into content?

Development outputs

Style guides Editorial schedules/ team models

Interview guides

Asset inventories

Discovery phase inputs

Content auditGap analysis

Content strategy

Stakeholder interviews User researchCompetitive audit

Content plan

Content plan

Customise as you see fit

Editorial calendarDetailed… or bird’s eye view

CMS Wire

Copy template

One of the pieces of the puzzle

Don’t create deliverables from scratch!

How are we going to use content’s energy for good?

• Measurement frameworks make content accountable(and helps acknowledge the real costs – in money and time – of successful content) 

• More than ever, we need infrastructure and tech to deliver content (not at energy’s scale, but a useful analogy to recognize the realities of content today)

• We must align with UX and IA and tech(on joint terms, not just theirs)

• And the sales department, marketing, customer service, engineering, the warehouse… ALL areas of business(because content and digital is too important to be left to the web team)

How does content strategy help…

Marketing“I need a lot of content.”

•How does that content support our agreed audience/ brand objectives?•Editorial and publishing plan•Content distribution

CEO“What’s the ROI?”

•Content is an asset•How content moves through organisation•Governance•Risk management

Courtesy Kristina Halverson, https://gathercontent.com/blog/how-to-explain-content-strategy-to-anyone

The future?

right content - right people - right time

The days of editing a page with a WYSIWYG editor are on their way out

Networked systems and databases, always the home of technical documentation, are becoming the model for standard publishing

Harnessing content’s energy with strategy

| © 2015 ORM | Private & Confidential